Timepiece



Aug. 1l, 1931. s. TROTTMAN a l mi:

Patented Aug. 11, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE STAFFORD TBOT'IMAN, OF MILWAUKEE, W'ISCONSIN TIMEPIECE Application filed August 9, 1929.

cilic object resides in the elimination of the hour and minute hands and the substitu 75 tion of a single driven dial upon which the hours and minutes are indicated, the correct time being visible through a magnifying lens carried by the case.

A further object is to simplify the struc- 20 ture of time pieces by the elimination of gearing and extra shafts required to drive the usual hands.

lith the above and other objects in view, which will appear as the description pro ceeds, the invention resides in the novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts substantially as hereinafter described and more particularly defined by the appended claims, it being understood that 30 such changes in the precise embodiment of the herein disclosed invention may be made as come within the scope of the claims.

In the accompanying drawings is illus trated one complete example of the physical embodiment of the present invention constructed according to the best mode so far devised for the practical application of the principles thereof.

In the drawings, Figure l is an elevalo tional view of a watch constructed in accordance with the present invention, parts being broken away to more clearly illustrate the structural features; Figure 2 is a similar view of a modified 45 form of the invention;

Figure 3 is a detailed transverse section taken on the line 8 3 of Figure 2.

Vhile the invention has been illustrated and will be described as applied to a watch, it is to be understood that the same refers Serial No. 384,550.

in general to any type of time piece.

Therefore, the language of the specification is to be so interpreted.

Referring now more particularly to the accompanying drawings, the numeral l des- 'ignates a case provided with a cover 2.

Contained within the case is the usual clock mechanism, only a portion of which is shown, as this forms no particular part of the present invention, which contemplates the use of any conventional mechanism wellknown to those skilled in the art.

As stated in the foregoing objects, the present invention eliminates the use of indieating hands and substitutes a dial 3, which is mounted upon the usual hour hand shaft 4;, driven by the gear 5. An arm 6, carried by the case in any suitable manner, extends vover the dial and serves as a bearing for one end of the shaft 4, the other end being journalled in the usual manner. lVhile the dial 3, in the structure illustrated, is secured to the shaft 4, it is obvious that the same may be fastened directly to the gear 5.

Contained on the dial 3, adjacent its periphery, are indicia 7 indicating the hours and minutes in a day. Obviously, in order to include all of the hours and minutes, the indicia must necessarily be very small in size. Therefore, in order to render the same visible, the cover 2, which is provided with a rectangular opening 8, in register with the indicia 7, is provided with a magnifying -lense 9 which serves to magnify the numerals so that they may be readily seen.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the drawings, it will be seen that a veryy simple structure has been provided which eliminates use of hour and minute hands, and which enables the exact .time of day to be readily ascertained -at a glance without effort or computation upon the part of theuser. Obviously, inasmuch as the dial 3 is carried bythe hour shaft, the same will rotate once in twelve hours, and the indicia contained thereon will include twelve hours and the intermediate minutes.

It will be appreciated that the present structure eliminates the necessity of a crysm tal and resulting breakage, thus aording a simple and durable structure.

In the simplified form of the present invention, it'is not contemplated to indicate the seconds. However, in instances Where it` should be desired to show the seconds, I propose to accomplish the same by the modified structure illustrated in Figure 2, in which the dial 3 is formed of any suitable transparent material having its outer edge provided with a frosted or colored band portion 10 adapted to receive the indicia 7. This leaves the central portion 11 of the dial transparent in order that a second dial 12, positioned under the dial 3, may be visible. Obviously, in this instance, the cover 2 must be provided with an opening 13 to render the dial 12 visible. The opening 13 may be provided With the usual crystal 14. However, due to the extremely small size of the opening 13 and the crystal 14, the latter is not as subject to breakage as the usual large crystal covering the entire face of the Watch. Obviously, the dial 12 may be mounted upon the shaft 15, which drives the usual second hand, and in operation, as the dial is rotated, the seconds, indicated on the dial, are determined by means of a hair line or other indicating point 16, contained on the crystal 14. Thus, a simplified structure may be provided which will readily give the seconds, as Well as the hours and minutes.

I claim:

1. A time-piece comp `ising aA case having a cover provided with an opening, a clock mechanism contained Within said case, a dial driven by said clock mechanism, indicia contained on said dial indicating the hours and minutes 01"' the day, and a magnifying lens for said opening to render one of the indicia visible at a time.

2. A time-piece comprising a case having a cover provided with a pair of openings, a clock mechanism contained Within said case, a transparent dial driven by said clock mechanism, indicia contained on said dial adjacent its periphery for indicating the hours and minutes of the day, said indicia adapted to register with one of said openings, and a second dial driven by said clock mechanism and positioned belowT said transparent dial and visible through the other of said openings in said cover.

In testimony that I claim the Jforegoing I have hereunto set my hand at Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and State of Tisconsin.

STAFFORD TROTTMAN. 

